Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Boosters of Ogden Valley's incorporation are suing Weber County with regard to the proposed Nordic Valley ski village.
- Critics decry moves by Weber County to aid ski village development, saying action should be the responsibility of leaders of the new Ogden Valley city when it takes shape.
- County officials say they have authority now until the new city forms.
OGDEN — The dispute over development in Weber County's Ogden Valley simmers on, now in court.
An Ogden Valley resident and a nonprofit group that pushed to turn the area into a city are suing Weber County, seeking reversal of the varied measures approved by Weber County leaders setting parameters for the proposed Nordic Valley ski village. They maintain that in light of the vote last November to incorporate part of the Ogden Valley, including the area where Nordic Valley sits, such action should be left to leaders of the new locale, which will take shape in early 2026.
Instead of "running free and rampaging over the citizens' vote to reform the governance of Ogden Valley, Utah's constitutional guarantees require Weber County to maintain the status quo of zoning regulations and ordinances as a 'caretaker' government," reads the lawsuit.
David Carver and Ogden Valley Smart Growth filed the suit in 2nd District Court in Ogden on Jan. 28 against Weber County and Weber County commissioners, who have not yet formally responded. But County Commissioner Gage Froerer, while not commenting on the lawsuit, rebuffed suggestions that commissioners acted beyond their authority with regard to the Nordic Valley project.
"You read state code; it's pretty clear," Froerer said. Until the new city is formed, probably in January 2026, the County Commission "is still the legislative body that makes decisions."
Christopher Crockett, an attorney in the Weber County Attorney's Office, said he has yet to review the case, though he'll be formulating a formal response to the suit.
Development in the Ogden Valley, a picturesque and increasingly popular zone east of Ogden along the Wasatch Back, is an increasingly delicate subject. Weber County commissioners have governed the area, but dissatisfaction with their leadership and a desire for more control over development led voters last November to overwhelmingly approve a ballot initiative turning a 63.3-square-mile swath of the area into a new city. The city will be led by a mayor and five-member city council, but the municipality doesn't materialize until early next year, after election of the new leaders later this year.
In the interim, county commissioners have been working with the developers behind the Nordic Valley ski village plans, approving a number of measures key to the future of development. Long-term plans — in the works since around 2021 — call for 428 condominiums, 159 chalets, 230 hotel rooms and commercial space clustered around the base of the resort off Nordic Valley Way, within the boundaries of the new city.
Late last November, after the Nov. 5 incorporation vote, county officials approved creation of three public infrastructure districts in connection with the Nordic Valley ski village plans. They will give Nordic Valley Venture — which owns the expanse to be developed — taxing authority on the land to help cover the cost of certain infrastructure improvements key to the plans.
Then, last December, commissioners approved the plans for the development and deemed the development zone a community reinvestment area. That decision will allow use of a portion of property tax funds generated on new development in the zone's boundaries — money that would otherwise go to the Weber School District, Weber County, the Weber Fire District and the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District — for infrastructure development.
"The Nordic Village project is an excellent example of how (tax-increment financing) can promote long-term economic and environmental sustainability through strategic development practices," Stephanie Russell, Weber County's economic development director, said in a statement last January.
Carver and the others suing Weber County, however, are not pleased with the varied actions. Carver has placed red signs reading "STOP!!!" around the Ogden Valley as part of his protest against the county.
"The major issue with the lawsuit is Weber County is putting themselves right in the middle of our incorporation by trying to mess with the Nordic Valley ski area," Carver said. "We want to be ones to say yea or nay, not have it be done by Weber County. ... Let us live our lives and be our own community and quit doing all this stuff."
Froerer said at this stage, before the new Ogden Valley city actually formalizes, the incorporation boosters "have no standing." The critics' suit, by contrast, says the court has authority to "review land use decisions and regulations" and calls on it declare any such moves by Weber County since the Nov. 5 vote with regard to the area where the city will be to be "constitutionally invalid." It also asks that the county be prevented from taking further action related to the area.
